No Endorsement Rendered in the District 3 race for city council

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Maria Lupinacci, 412-381-7772
lupinaccim@aol.com

PENNACCHIO, MCDONALD ROBERTS, BERNER AND OTHERS RECEIVE DEMOCRACY FOR PITTSBURGH’S ENDORSEMENT

Seven Candidates Get A Thumbs Up At Endorsement Meeting

PITTSBURGH, PA – Democracy for Pittsburgh (the local coalition group for Democracy for America) announced today the results of an endorsement vote that was held on Saturday, February 18, 2006.

“Candidates need to jump a high hurdle in order to win our endorsement. They needed to receive at least 75% of the votes, not counting abstentions. I believe that no other progressive endorsing group in Pittsburgh requires this level of agreement from their membership,” said Lou Takacs, member of Democracy for Pittsburgh’s Organizing Committee and "meeting host" for the day. “Setting such a high standard also helps to ensure that winning candidates receive not only an endorsement, but a base of volunteers to draw from,” he added.

Chuck Pennacchio was endorsed for US Senate (26/34 votes). Valerie McDonald Douglas was endorsed for Lt. Governor (31/34 votes). Georgia Berner endorsed for US Representative – 4th Congressional District (30/34 votes). Susan Banahasky was endorsed for Assembly District 20 (23/34 votes). William Sargent was endorsed for Assembly District 42 (! 22/34 votes). And, two longtime members of Democracy for Pittsburgh were also endorsed for Assembly: Dan Cindric was endorsed for Assembly District 27 (21/34 votes) and Steve Karas was endorsed for Assembly District 34 (23/34 votes).

No endorsement could be reached in the following races: 14th Congressional District, 18th Congressional District, Assembly District 21, Assembly District 24 and special election for Pittsburgh City Council District 3.

During the meeting, the host asked for a show of hands of those members who were planning on running for Allegheny County Democratic Committee and nearly a quarter of those in attendance signaled their intentions to run – most for the first time.

We made the sweet 16 -- in a bad way -- air quality and asthma capitals

AAFA Home Page There is no place safe from asthma, and some cities make living with asthma more difficult. More than 20 million people live with asthma in the U.S., and more than half of them have allergic asthma.

Pittsburgh ranks 16th worst in this year's asthma capitals listing.

Part 2: Falbo projects fall behind in paying tax

I don't like the URA. But, I really don't like subsidized housing for the rich. To be building downtown housing with taxpayer's money in the mix, is wrongheaded. Rather, let downtown housing happen on its own, as a private sector development. I have no problems with people living downtown, not at all. But, I have a problem when we pay some of their way to reside downtown.

We should be putting the efforts and attention of the governmental programs to work in the areas where they are needed the most -- mainly with the poor, the edge communities (such as Knoxville, Beltzhoover, St. Clair Village, and other areas around our town and county where the crumbling of the infrastructure has begun, sadly.

Falbo projects fall behind in paying tax His 151 First Side project, Downtown, to include 82 condominiums, got a $1.5 million loan in 2004 from the Urban Redevelopment Authority.

This is bad policy, to subsidize housing for the rich in downtown.

It is much better to build up Brighton Heights (i.e., neighborhoods) rather than downtown. Everyday working people live and own property in the neighborhoods. The little-guys are the lifeblood of the city. Downtown property owners are generally big corporations. Ask, who should GOVERNMENT cater to?

The best answer is NOBODY should get a free ride. NO special interest group should get favorite attention and handouts.

The worst of the worst are the big downtown handout deals. The $18-million TIF to PNC for PNC PLAZA goes on top of the $30-million GRANT already given for the project by Gov Rendell. That state money is our money too. Comcast's building in Philly got a $300-million tax break.

Those numbers are huge and this is where we need to lay the shovel down.

The answers from both O'Connor and Weinstein are on the mark. Way to go.

"There's nothing in the law that addresses sitting still and being patient," county Treasurer John Weinstein said. "I give all the credence in the world to anyone who would take an abandoned piece of property and redevelop it. But someone owns it, and someone ought to be paying taxes on it."

As the abandoned property sits idle, the entire neighborhood goes into a tailspin. Everyone's property is pulled downward. Those little bumps are significant to the families.

Furthermore, we've been rewarding, with cash, those that do the wrong things. You start a crack house and you get money from the URA. You let your property go into the toilet -- you get a tax break. If you fix up your property, you get a tax hit.

Even as it failed to pay taxes, the partnership received $625,000 in loans and grants in 2002 from the URA to demolish the old hospital. The abandoned hospital had become a scene of drug dealing, teen parties and occasional fires.

The philosophy and policies are wrongheaded.

The best solution is the freedom-based solution. Liberty and justice for all. So, everyone gets treated as they should -- no favorites. Mr. Falbo wants "constitutent services treatment" -- not justice for him. You're not doing a favor for Brighton Heights. The tunes have changed since Tom Murphy was mayor, perhaps. Or have they just changed because of Rich Lord, the P-G reporter?

Mr. Falbo said he was doing the city a favor by holding the property. "Do I just walk away and give the thing to the taxing bodies and let them deal with the drug parties and all the other problems?" he asked.

URA's Jerry D said it wasn't uncommon for developers to delay tax payments. "I think it's wrong," he said of the practice. "I think it's unfair to the municipalities."

A good developer in Pittsburgh is one who knows all the angles and can play the system. They use things. They squat where they need to. They get and give favors. They wheel and deal -- and the taxpayers get the bills and the lower home ownership values. The URA said that the developer knows the funding programs -- knows the red tape -- knows the hoops to jump through.

Take the funding programs and put them in the trash. We need HONESTY. PAY THE BILL. EVERYONE PAYS. No give-a-ways. No more funding programs. LAY THE SHOVEL DOWN. Game over.

Without fairness in the system -- we'll never have prosperity, unless it goes to the cheats.

Such a JOKE: But, he added, Mr. Falbo "is a very good developer. He knows the funding programs. He's very good at managing the projects. He's a risk-taker."

Here is another game of corruption that needs to be fixed once and for all: These assessment fights where an independent living center in Allegheny Center was reassessed by the county at $4.9 million, and taxed accordingly. The partnership appealed and won a reduction to $2.5 million. It appealed that and, on Feb. 1, the assessment was cut to $1,125,000. The value dropped from $4.9 Million to $1.1 Million.

That is a massive discount. What if everyone in the city and county paid only 20% of their tax bill? And, to put insult onto injury, this is a project that was another governmental boondogle -- Allegheny Center. This is what's crushing us.

We would have been better to leave Allegheny Center alone. Lay the shovel down -- and we all have a chance to have prosperity. Otherwise, they mess things up in a big, big way.

When we see things that are "billed as a boon for the struggling" -- watch out.

The county assessed the houses at $37,000 to $85,000, with most around $50,000. The partnership challenged those assessments and got them reduced to $3,700 each. So, the changes in assessment went from $50,000 to $3,700, EACH.

This is how the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. This is how corruption wins the day. This is why we need a fresh voice on council who knows that the way to prosperity, for all, is with the taxes on the land. Land can't be fudged like they have been doing in these instances and throughout the county.

The real solution here is simple, and it is proven, and it has been something that has been in our legacy for generations. The solution is NOT about a UNIFIED TAX, such as pushed and later agreeded to by Bob O'Connor and Tom Murphy. Bob O'Connor, then City Council President, pushed for and got a UNIFIED tax and that leads to troubles such as these. Now we've got a quagmire that needs to be undone.

We need to tax the value of the land. This is often called a LAND VALUE TAX. The Land Value Tax is what caused our downtown to be a dense business climate with many high-rise properties. The Land Value Tax is what has allowed our neighborhoods to flourish in the past generations while keeping our total cost of home ownership as the most affordable in any urban region in the nation.

If the Land Value Tax comes back into our policy direction -- we'll see another boom in home values, home ownership rewards, and downtown buildings. Presently we are seeing folks who can't sell their homes as they are worthless on the open market. Neighborhoods are a big risk for new home buyers. We are seeing the tax shift from the big fish to the smaller families. We are seeing many of the downtown buildings be torn down because it is better to make green space or a surface parking lot.

Oh my oh my.

Falbo projects fall behind in paying tax

Great reporting by Rich Lord, again.

Falbo projects fall behind in paying tax: "Falbo projects fall behind in paying tax
Key developer urging patience over $533,000 that he owes

By Rich Lord, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

On First Avenue, there's a hole in the ground that represents Pittsburgh's dream of turning Downtown into a neighborhood.

Four miles away in Brighton Heights, there's a weedy lot that epitomizes the recurring nightmare of tax delinquency and neighborhood stagnation.

Both are the work of Ralph A. Falbo, 68, of Squirrel Hill, a determined developer and reluctant taxpayer. A builder of scores of subsidized homes for low-income families and the elderly, he has emerged as an important player in Downtown redevelopment, even while delaying or not paying $533,000 in city, school district and county property taxes, according to records.

This is why some people don't want to have open and transparent government. I do. I helped to fight for the property records to be posted upon the county's web site, for all to see, even that of judges.

PA Libertarian Convention Line-Up

The 2006 LPPA Convention will be held March 3 - March 5 at The Atherton Hotel in State College, PA.

Headline speaker: Matthew Brouillette is president and CEO of the Commonwealth Foundation, an independent, non-profit public policy research and educational organization located at the foot of the Pennsylvania Capitol in Harrisburg. The Commonwealth Foundation is dedicated to advancing state-level public policies based on our nation’s founding principles of limited government, economic freedom, and personal responsibility.

8:30 am – 12:15 pm - LPPA Business Meeting

12:30 pm - 1:30 pm Luncheon

Rep. Kerry Benningoft, PA House of Representative, R - Dist. 171 is a fifth-term Republican and former Centre County Coroner. Benninghoff remains an advocate for improving Pennsylvanians health care and is a strong voice against additional government spending and tax increases. The Commonwealth foundation rated Representative Benninghoff in the smaller portion of representatives in respect to the liberty indey. Kerry actually voted to increase liberty – unlike the majority of the Pennsylvania legislators.

2:00 pm – 3:20 Property Rights Panel – Topics Kelo, Heritage areas, invasive species, Green ways.

3:30 – 3:50 Shauna Moser – Penn State YAF (Young Americans for Freedom) Chairperson on campus activism

4:00 - Petitioning for Liberty Panel Discussion with Chuck Moulton, Jim Babb, Ron Goodman, Berlie Etzel, Ken Krawchuck, Paul Teese (chair of the Pennsylvania Green Party) and John Murphy (for the Ralph Nader campaign).

5:00 – 5:15 pm Dr. Julian Heicklen: Separation of church and State.

6:00 - 9:30 pm Cocktail Reception and Banquet with Mr. Russ Diamond Pa Clean Sweep

Joey and his application to Havard

Here goes some more college talk. Yes, I did go to college. Yes, I did respond to the gaffe in the South Pgh Reporter -- scroll down. But this story is about a speedskater who hopes to go to that Ivy League School in Cambridge.

SI.com - 2006 Winter Olympics - What about Joey? (cont.) - Saturday February 18, 2006 7:02PM After Joey won the 500, he announced that he was donating the $25,000 he received from the United States Olympic Committee to the Right to Play organization, which promotes sports for children in the third world. After winning the silver earlier today, Joey said that he planned to also donate the $15,000 he will receive for that medal. He said that eight or nine companies had decided to match his original donation and that his efforts in Turin have so far raised $250,000. The person who oversees Right to Play is Johann Olav Koss, the former speedskater and one of the great Olympians of the 20th century. He won our magazine's Sportsman of the Year in 1994, and told one of our reporters today that because of Joey efforts, donations are coming in from people in Norway and the Netherlands.

Team wins in Slippppery Rock by less than 20 points

Our swim team went up to The Rock early this morning, fighting the wind and ice along the way, to win a swim meet by a very narrow margin. Nice event in the SRU pool.

Sadly, I hear, the powers that be at The Rock are about to close the mens and womens swim teams, water polo programs and wrestling. That stinks.

My kids did very well. The end of the scholastic swim season is here too. No more HS dual meets, just championships. Good luck swimmers. It's taper time.

NHL won't commit to Olympics past 2010

SI.com - 2006 Winter Olympics - NHL won't commit to Olympics past 2010 - Friday February 17, 2006 12:27PM The NHL will review several factors -- including the risk of injury -- before deciding if it will commit to sending players to the Olympics past the 2010 Games in Vancouver.

This is why the NHL is such a bad bet, pun intended. The NHL didn't have a hockey season recently too.

This isn't about the chances of injury for the players. This is about a lack of capacity in terms of relationships.

But, the NHL's Penguins franchise is married to the Isle of Capri plan -- and NOT able to think again in terms of alternative or twists to the plan. So, the commit seems to be there -- sadly -- the commit is going to the wrong avenues.

The world gathers its greatest snow and ice athletes together once every four years. To take a week or two off from the season, or to have a 100 players absent for a couple of weeks, or even months, is worthy.

PA Constitution

WARNING: The version of the PA CONSTITUTION SEEMS TO BE WRONG.

See the comments. Posted elsewhere in HTML.

Be careful what you wish for - PittsburghLIVE.com The Pennsylvania Constitution does not need a makeover. The commonwealth does need new politicians -- governor, legislators and judges.

Wow. Version of the PA Constitution are WRONG, it seems.

Talk:Pennsylvania Constitution - PittsburghPlatform: "'Senators shall be at least twenty-five years of age and Representatives twenty-one years of age. They shall have been citizens and inhabitants of the State four years, and inhabitants of their respective districts one year next before their election (unless absent on the public business of the United States or of this State) and shall reside in their respective districts during their terms of service.'"

Tech Companies Grilled by U.S. House in terms of China's demands

Sparks flew in a crowded courtroom as House Representatives demanded explanations from technology giants Yahoo, Microsoft, Cisco and Google in their involvements with China. After taking heavy fire from concerned Democrats and Republicans for their adherence to China's restrictions on free speech, representatives from each company faced hours of grueling questioning.

Representatives Chris Smith (R-NJ) and Tom Lantos (D-Ca) were among the most passionate speakers against the corporations. They criticized the companies for allowing China to censor their own Web searches and content. House members asserted that by giving in to China's regulations, the companies were furthering social oppression and totalitarian principles.

Only one Representative, Adam Smith (D-Wa) defended the companies, saying that blame should be focused more on the Chinese government itself, and that withholding Internet business from the country would not ultimately change Chinese policies. Company representatives whistled a tune similar to their previous reactions over the past several weeks, claiming that it was better for Chinese citizens to have censored information as opposed to no information at all.

More:
House Member Criticizes Internet Companies for Practices in China
CNET Roundup: Capitol Hill's Fury on China
Video: Taking Heat over Censorship in China
Video: Tech Giants' 'Nauseating Collaboration' in China

See links and the newsletter at PoliticsOnline.

Have you been watching the Winter Olympics?

The kids and the grand parents, are getting into the Olympics. I've been too busy, but shut down today and watched day-time TV including women's curling and women's hockey.

Team USA lost both. The Sweeden Hockey squad upset ours in a shoot out. Excellent goalie games on both sides.

Number 7, from Sweeden, in a post game interview was asked how much of a difference her coach made in the game. She said, "at the end of the game we couldn't hear him as he had lost his voice."

The USA's 'Big Kinger,' Katie King, summed it up by saying, "Their goalie played well and she stood on her head."

There has been a lot of talk about 'wipe outs' in the Games, overall. The game wasn't a wipe out. But, I'm better fitted to the summer Olympics where conditions are better monitored.

Republicans consider Pittsburgh - PittsburghLIVE.com

I blogged about this elsewhere a day or two ago, so I'll repost my thoughts here.

Short answer: Pass.

We don't need the Republican Convention here in Pittsburgh for many reasons. The biggest reason is we don't have the right spaces. If we had a new arena along with the old, existing, Civic Arena, then we'd be with a different discussion. We need to have a net gain in terms of assets. Let's build a new arena and keep the old arena. And, let's make all of these facilities owned and operated by the private, not the public, sector.

Republicans consider Pittsburgh - PittsburghLIVE.com: "Before the Democrats settled on Boston, Pittsburgh had a real shot to host the Democrats' 2004 convention, said David Morehouse, a Beechview native who served as Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry's traveling chief of staff. Morehouse now works as senior consultant for the Pittsburgh Penguins in the hockey team's attempt to build a new arena.

China set to pardon shunned athletes

The outside wall of a Recreation Center in China that we visited.

SI.com - Olympics - China set to pardon shunned athletes - Friday February 17, 2006 5:23AM Chinese sports officials have repeatedly said the country is unlikely to repeat its Athens haul of 32 golds in 2008.
But state media and national coaches have made far bolder predictions and by most indications China appears determined to top the medals table when the Games come to Beijing.

Five rings, but not Olympic Rings, exactly, on a fence / divide at the swim pool in Chengdu, China.

TV 11 Promo: Lot of Shame

There are snakes and groundhogs in an empty lot and people are waiting for someone to come clean it up.

What's so bad about snakes and groundhogs in an idle bit of land? Snakes might eat upon the mice and rats.

Furthermore, why don't the people who are waiting for someone else to come and clean the lot just do it themselves? They might be able to turn the ground into a presentable space if they just did the work. Why wait for someone else?

We need to be self-reliant. If you see the news clip when it airs, let me know the details. Or, we'll watch the TV 11 web site.

Press release about fact and errors on Krane

Speaking to the school board: Among other things, "Don't Sell South."

The statement as part of the wiki: To PPS on 2-13-06 - Platform.For-Pgh.org

Or, as a one-page PDF: Statement to the Board and Administrators of Pittsburgh Public Schools is available in a PDF format, one-page. This can be printed and handed out to school teachers, PTOs and others with an interest in the schools.

Original posting was 2-13.

Councilman urges diligence to avoid TIF max-out

Diligent. To lay the shovel down, that is diligent.

Councilman urges diligence to avoid TIF max-out 'We have to be very diligent about prioritizing what projects get [TIFs],' said Mr. Peduto.

NONE is diligent. Enough is enough. NO to ALL TIFs.

We should want sustainable business ventures here. We should not need to bribe others to move and open here. If they come in with a TIF, then we'll never get the real expansion here that is needed.

We don't have any more money to be tossing it around as we used to do. We're broke.

And, we don't want to be doing what we should NOT be doing. Government needs to govern and get out of the development business. Then, we get developers who want to govern.

Urban League forum tonight targets safety in, around city schools

Urban League forum tonight targets safety in, around city schools ... Residents have called for more crossing guards to watch over children in the Hill District and other neighborhoods. Salaries for about 140 guards have been a matter of contention between the city and district in past years, with the city paying for them so far this year.

Crossing guards.... They matter too.

City maxing out tax breaks - PittsburghLIVE.com

TIFs, explained well in this article, stink. The tax break goes to the corporations. The corporation pays less and the bills are increases for the little guys.

City maxing out tax breaks - PittsburghLIVE.com Pittsburgh is preparing to save PNC Financial Group $18 million on a new $170 million skyscraper with a special tax-financing offer, and that plan -- almost guaranteed approval by local taxing bodies -- would edge the city closer to a state-mandated limit on such deals.

I've been against TIFs for years. Back in 2000 I ran on a platform that said, "NO MORE TIFs." In 2005, I said we should change the laws for TIFs in Harrisburg. In 2006, I still say -- NO MORE TIFs. None.

TIFs are very clever. They were master-minded and perfected by Tom Murphy. People from around the world have come here to see how it has been done - and they've done a decent job in duplication of the desired effects -- ripping off taxpayers who pay their fair share.

TIFs take away from school kids who are in schools today.

TIFs take away from police presence, garbage collection, rodent control and traffic engineers who need to keep our streets and sidewalks operational.

TIFs take away from home owners who then have to pay more because a downtown skyscrapper pays $18-million less than it should. And, PNC Plaza already got a $30-million GRANT from Harrisburg's Rendell anyway. The $18-million goes on top of the $30-million. The subsidization of that building is greater than $1-million per floor.

Q & A with the PFT

I'd love to get the endorsement, and some campaign funds, from the Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers. 412 431 5900

My dad is a retired Pittsburgh Public School teacher of many years.

More insights.